Soprano Soile Isokoski's latest Ondine release finds this wondrous soprano singing a dozen orchestral songs of the 19th c. by three of the finest French song composers of the time, Ernest Chausson, Hector Berlioz and Henri Duparc. Included are two major works of the French song repertoire - Ernest Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer and Hector Berlioz's Nuits d'été, before the disc concludes with three superb examples of the art of Duparc. Ms. Isokoski, who regularly appears on the world's most renowned festival, concert and operatic stages and is recognized as one of the world's finest lyric sopranos, is accompanied here by the Helsinki Philharmonic together with its celebrated Chief Conductor John Storgårds. Her extensive catalogue of recordings for Ondine includes award-winning recordings of Luonnotar and other orchestral songs by Jean Sibelius (2007 BBC Music Magazine Award 'Disc of the Year' and Four Last Songs and other orchestral songs by Richard Strauss (2002 Gramophone Award).

The Guardian, 20th August 2015Isokoski provides, as ever, a masterclass in smooth line and radiant tone in this disc of French music...Isokoski's singing has an inwardness that here could be mistaken for coolness, but it's a performance that takes us into her confidence, and at the big moments she soars with the orchestra, even if one might ideally wish for a more voluptuously Wagnerian voice.